Speedometer for toy vehicles

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OF TOY VEHICLES MOVING ALONG A TRACK COMPRISING AN IMPULSE VANE WHICH IS BIASED BY A SPRING TO A POSITION OVER THE TRACK, SO THAT THE SPEED OF A TOY VEHICLE HITTING THE VANE DETERMINES HOW FAR IT WILL BE PIVOTED AGAINST THE SPRING FORCE. THE VANE TURNS AN INDICATOR WHEEL WITH A POINTER EXTENDING FROM WHICH MOVES OVER A SCALE TO INDICATE THE SPEED OF THE VEHICLE. A PAWL WHICH ENGAGES RATCHETS ON THE INDICATOR WHEEL RETAINS IT AT THE FIRST POSITION TO WHICH IT HAS BEEN MOVED BY THE VANE. A RESETTING LEVER IS POSITIONED UPTRACK FROM THE VANE SO IT IS HIT BY A VEHICLE PRIOR TO THE VEHICLE HITTING THE VANE, THE RESETTING LEVER   RELEASING THE INDICATING WHEEL FOR THE PAWL, SO THE POINTER RETURNS TO A ZERO POSITION. A TRACK SECTION OVER WHICH THE VANE EXTENDS IS BANKED TOWARD THE VANE TO MAKE SURE THAT BOTH WIDE AND NARROW VEHICLES HIT APPROXIMATELY THE SAME PORTION OF THE VANE, TO INCREASE ACCURACY.

NOV. 9, 1971 v, BOSLEY ETAL 3,618,397

SPEEDOMETER FOR TOY VEHICLES Filed Nov. 26, 1969 5 Sfleets-Sheet 1 44 I! as 68 m wwmes w MGpX/ M irraemil NOV. 9, 197] D. BOSLEY ET AL I 3,618,397

SPEEDOMETER FOR TOY VEHICLES 3 Sh0cts-$hoot 15 Filed Nov. 26, 1969 j W M W. W 7. WW2 4 2M i w ,KJ QMZM MH r awn a United States Patent O 3,618,397 SPEEDOMETER FOR TOY VEHICLES Denis V. Bosley, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Derek 1. Gay,

Redondo Beach, Harvey W. LaBranche, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Toshio Yamasaki, Gardena, Califi, as-

signors to Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, Calif.

Filed Nov. 26, 1969, Ser. No. 880,243 Int. Cl. G01p 3/12; A63f 9/14 US. Cl. 73488 9 Claims I ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for indicating the speed of toy vehicles moving along a track comprising an impulse vane which is biased by a spring to a position over the track, so that the speed of a toy vehicle hitting the vane determines how far it will be pivoted against the spring force. The vane turns an indicator wheel with a pointer extending therefrom which moves over a scale to indicate the speed of the vehicle. A pawl which engages ratchets on the indicator wheel retains it at the furthest position to which it has been moved by the vane. A resetting lever is positioned uptrack from the vane so it is hit by a vehicle prior to the vehicle hitting the vane, the resetting lever releasing the indicating wheel from the pawl, so the pointer returns to a zero position. A track section over which the vane extends is banked towards the vane to make sure that both wide and narrow vehicles hit approximately the same portion of the vane, to increase accuracy.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention 7 This invention relates to toy vehicles and, more particularly, to accessories for use with toy vehicles.

(2) Description of the prior art Children often play with toy vehicles by racing them along tracks, either individually to see how fast they go, or against one another in races. An indication of the speed of a toy vehicle at any location along a track layout would provide added enjoyment by providing a definite indication of a vehicles speed. Such a device should provide the same speed indication for vehicles moving at the same speed, for any one of a variety of types which may be raced along a track, and it must be economical to produce to enable its widespread use.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a speedometer for toy vehicles.

Another object is to provide a toy speedometer which is accurate for a wide variety of vehicles, and which is of simple and reliable construction. 7

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a speedometer is provided which includes a pivotally mounted impulse vane which is spring-biased to a position over a toy vehicle track, so that a toy vehicle hitting the vane pivots it in an amount dependent upon the speed of the vehicle. A pivotally mounted indicating wheel is provided which is moved by the impulse vane, the indicating wheel carrying a pointer that moves over a speed indicating scale. A pa'wl that engages a ratchet wheel fixed to the indicating wheel allows the indicating wheel to move in the direction in which it is pushed by the vane, but prevents its return. Accordingly, the pointer remains at the furthest position to which it has been moved, which indicates the speed of the vehicle.

A resetting lever is provided which is positioned immediately up-path from the vane, so that a vehicle first 3,618,397 Patented Nov. 9, 1971 hits the resetting lever before hitting the vane. When a "vehicle hits the resetting lever, the lever releases the ratchets on the indicating wheel from the pawl, so that the indicating wheel can return to a zero position to provide a new speed indication. The speedometer includes a banked track section, and the impulse vane extends over the lower side of the track. Accordingly, vehicles moving along the track drift down to the lower side to hit the vane. The banked track causes both Wide and narrow vehicles to be positioned at one side of the track so that they all hit the vane at about the same point thereon, to provide increased accuracy. I

In order to enable simultaneous testing of two toy vehicles, a pair of speedometers is provided on one frame, for engaging vehicles on two tracks. This enables children to race cars against each other by merely determining which one produces a higher speed indication. In order to provide accurate relative speed indications, the speedometers have a spring mounting that allows adjustment of the preloading of the spring which biases the vane towards a position above the track. A child can vary the spring loading to make both speedometers provide the same reading for cars traveling at the same speed.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with praticularity in the appended claims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a speedometer apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional plan view of the speedometer apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a partial exploded view of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS I FIG. 1 illustrates a speedometer toy 10 having two speedometers 12, 14 for measuring the speed of toy vehicles moving along two tracks 1-6, 18. As a vehicle on either track passes through a housing 20 of the apparatus, a pointer moves over a speed scale 22 or 24 to indicate the speed of the vehicle. The speed scales may be proportioned to the approximate scale of the vehicle as compared to full size vehicles which they represent. The pointer retains the speed indication until another toy vehicle moves through that speedometer. A new vehicle successively resets the pointer so it falls to zero, and produces a new speed indication which moves the pointer to a position indicating the speed of the newly arrived vehicle. Each speedometer works independently of the other and can be used alone. However, the dual speedometer arrangement allows a pair of toy vehicles to be raced against each other to determine which is faster, or to determine the effects of any track accessories which the vehicle traverses prior to reaching the speedometer.

As shown in FIG. 2, the speedometers 12, 14 are very similar, so a description of one of them will largely apply to the other. Speedometer 12 includes an inpulse vane lever 26 fixed to a shaft 28 that is pivotally mounted on the housing. The vane lever 26 includes a vane 30, and is spring force, to an angle which depends primarily upon the vehicle speed. As the vane lever pivots in the direction of arrow 36, it pushes an indicator wheel 38 to rotate it in the same direction so that a pointer 40 fixed to the indicator wheel moves over the speed scale 22. The furtherest angle to which the pointer 40 is moved indicates the speed of the vehicle.

After the vane lever 26 has been pivoted to its maximum angle, the spring force returns it to its initial position shown in FIG. 2. However, a pawl 42 engages ratchets 44 on a ratchet wheel which is fixed to the indicator wheel to retain the indicator wheel at the furthest position to which it has been pivoted. Accordingly, the speedometer retains a speed indication indefinitely. The vane lever and indicator wheel are of light weight construction to provide a minimum moment of inertia, so that vehicles passing through the speedometer are not slowed significantly.

The speed indication is reset to zero when another vehicle passes along the track and hits a resetting lever 46 whose outer end 48 is positioned up-path from the vane 30 on the vane lever. When a vehicle hits the outer end 48 of the resetting lever, the lever pivots around a shaft 50. An arm 52 on the resetting lever engages one end 54 of a pawl lever 56 on which the pawl 42 is mounted. The pawl lever is then pivoted so that the pawl 42 disengages from the ratchets 44 on the indicating wheel, to allow a spring to return the indicating wheel to its initial position wherein the pointer 40 points to a zero speed level on the speed scale. A spring arm 60 on the pawl lever 56 has an outer end which abuts a pin 62 on the housing so that the spring arm 60 is deflected. The spring arm 60 biases the pawl arm 56 toward a position wherein the pawl 42 is engaged with the ratchets 44 on the indicating wheel. The pawl lever 56, in turn, biases the resetting lever 46 towards the position shown in FIG. 2 wherein the outer end 48 is in the path of vehicles moving along the track.

FIG. illustrates the mechanism of speedometer 12 in greater detail. The mechanism includes a coil spring 64 which supplies the force for biasing the impulse vane lever 26 towards a position in the path of vehicles. The spring has one end 66 engaged with a pin 68 fixed to the vane lever and an opposite end 70 which is held by one of several pins 72 on a spring holding bracket 74 that is fixed to the housing 20. The vane lever 26 also carries a dri-vlng member 76 that engages a face portion 78 on the lndicator wheel 38 to drive it in the direction of the arrow 3 6 while allowing the vane lever to return to its initial positlon without urging the indicating wheel towards its initial position. The indicating wheel is spring-biased towards its initial position by a spring 80 disposed about the vane shaft 28, which has one end 82 engaged with a member 84 on the vane lever 26 and another end 86 engaged with a protrusion 88 on the indicating wheel The spring '80 returns the indicating Wheel back to its 1n1t1al position when it is released from the ratchet 42. Both springs 64, 80 are preloaded to assure return of the vane lever and indicating wheel. The vane spring 64 is of much higher spring constant and provides a higher torque than the other spring 80, so that the vane lever 26 can return to its initial position against the force of spring 80.

As shown in FIG. 3, the track 16 is banked at the portion WhlCh carries a vehicle 90 past the position of the impulse vane 30. The purpose of this banking is to allow gravity to urge the vehicle towards one side 32 of the track where the impulse vane 30 is located. This assures that even narrow vehicles will be located along the side 32 of the track, instead of possibly moving along the opposite side 92 where they might miss the impulse vane. Of course, it would be possible to make the impulse vane 30 longer so that it extended further over the track' However, some vehicles might hit the outer end of the vane while others might hit the vane at a position closer to the center of pivoting of the vane lever, and this difference could cause a difference in the speed level which was registered on the speedometer. In order to eliminate the effects of vehicle size or the position at which the vehicle happened to be located on the track as it passed the vane, the vane is located at only one side of the track and the track is banked to make all the vehicles roll along the same position.

Sometimes, a toy vehicle may be pushed ver slowly through the speedometer, so it moves the impulse vane 30 only far enough to allow the vehicle to pass by. It would be undesirable to have the pointer register an appreciable speed in this case, as it would make a child think the speedometer was very inaccurate. To prevent this, a retainer shown at 98 in FIG. 5 is provided to limit the pivoting of the indicating wheel in a direction opposite to arrow 36. The retainer 98, which is mounted on the housing, holds the pointer, so that the driving member 76 on the vane lever is spaced from the face portion 78 of the indicating wheel until the vane lever is pivoted at least a predetermined amount. The spring urges the indicator wheel 38 to rotate counterclockwise, as viewed in FIG. 5, so that the face portion 78 of the indicator wheel moves towards engagement with the undeflected driving member 76. However, the retainer 98, which is a simple projection fixed to the housing, prevents the indicator wheel 38 from rotating counterclockwise far enough for the face portion 78 thereon to contact the driving member 76. Thus, if the driving member 76 moves a small distance towards the face portion 78, as occurs when a vehicle is slowly pushed through the speedometer, the driving member 76 will not contact the face portion 78 and the indicator wheel 38 will not rotate even a small amount.

The second speedometer 14 is constructed in a manner largely similar to the above-described speedometer 12. The differences are largely due to the fact that the vane of the left speedometer, must contact vehicles moving along the left side of its track 18, since there is not enough space on the right side to accommodate their mechanism. As shown in FIG. 2, the left speedometer 14 has an impulse vane lever 26L with a vane 30L that extends over the left side of the track 18. The vane lever 26L is coupled to an indicating wheel 38L through a pair of gears 100, 102. The gears are used to obtain a reversal of pivoting direction between the vane lever 26L and indicating wheel 38L, because the pointer 40L would move to the right in indicating successively higher speeds, since this direction of movement is the conventional direction used in almost all meters. The left hand speedometer also includes a pawl 42L which engages a ratchet wheel portion 44L mounted above the gear 102 on the indicating wheel. The pawl 42L is part of a pawl lever 56L, and the pawl can be released when a vehicle strikes a resetting lever 46L.

Where only one speedometer is used, the accuracy of the speedometer is generally not important, so long as it provides repeatable indications, that is, it should provide the same indication every time vehicles traveling at a particular speed pass through the speedometer. However, where two speedometers are used together, it is important that both provide the same speed indication for vehicles traveling at the same speed. To provide for such uniformity, the speedometers are constructed to enable a child to make small adjustments in the speed indications. As shown in FIG. 5, the end 70 of the spring which biases the vane lever towards its initial position can be held against any one of several different pins 72. By moving the spring end 70 to different pins, a child can vary the spring loading, and therefore vary the impulse which a vehicle must apply to the vane to cause a given speed indication. In order to make both speedometers provide the same speed indications for vehicles moving at the same speed, only one of the speedometers must be adjusted, it being adjusted to provide about the same readings as the other speedometer.

While the speedometer apparatus could be provided with vehicle tracks that connect to other track sections of a track layout, the apparatus can be made more compact by providing only means for receiving a track. As shown, in FIG. 3 the apparatus includes a pair of lands 104, 106,, which are designed to receive separate track sections. The track sections 16, 18 which they are designed to receive are flexible members with grooves on their underside which can firmly engage the lands. The lands 104, 106 are angled, so that the track section twists to a banked orientation at the portion which moves past the impulse vanes. The ends of a relatively long track section, such as one about two feet long, will generally be unbanked when connected to a track layout whose track portions on either side of the speedometer apparatus are unbanked.

Thus, the invention provides a speedometer which is of relatively simple construction, yet which provides an accurate relative indication of vehicle speed. The apparatus is constructed with two speedometers to enable a pair of vehicles to be raced against each other to determine which is faster.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated herein, it is recognized that modifications and variations may readily occur to those skilled in the art and, consequently, it is intended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications and equivalents.

What is claimed is:

1. A speedometer for toy vehicles moving along a predetermined path comprising:

means defining a toy vehicle path;

an impulse vane;

means for biasing said impulse vane toward a position in the way of vehicles moving along said toy vehicle path, so that vehicles rapidly moving along said path and having a mass much greater than the eifective mass of said vane, thrust said vane out of said vehicle path to a position dependent largely upon the speed of said vehicle; and

means for retaining an indication of the furthest position to which said vane has been thrust out of said vehicle path.

2. The speedometer described in claim 1 including:

resetting means including a member located up-path from the position of said impulse vane when it is in the path of vehicles, for resetting said indication of the furthest position to substantially a position indicating zero speed, prior to said vehicle reaching said impulse vane.

3. The speedometer described in claim 1 wherein:

said impulse vane has an outer end which projects over only one side of said toy vehicle path; and

said means defining a toy vehicle path includes means for holding a track at a banked orientation so that the side of said toy vehicle path over which said impulse vane extends is lower than the opposite side of said path, whereby to assure that all vehicles will hit said impulse vane at about the same location thereon.

4. The speedometer described in claim 1 wherein:

said means for retaining an indication includes a scale,

a pivotally mounted pointer with an outer end for indicating values on said scale, a spring for urging said pointer toward a predetermined initial position relative to said scale, means for coupling said impulse vane to said pointer to enable said vane to move said pointer in a first rotational direction away from said initial position, pawl means for resisting rotation of said pointer in a direction opposite to said first direction, and resetting means for releasing said pointer from said pawl means.

5. A speedometer for toy vehicles comprising:

a housing;

means for holding a vehicle track to said housing;

a vane lever pivotally mounted on said housing, said lever having an end portion movable to a position in the path of vehicles moving along a track which is held to said means for holding a vehicle track;

a driving member mounted on said vane lever;

wheel means pivotally coupled to said housing, including means for engaging said driving member to receive pivoting forces from it that pivot said wheel means in a predetermined direction, and said wheel means also including ratchets;

spring means for urging said vane lever towards said position wherein said end portion is in the path of vehicles, and urging said wheel means in a direction opposite to said predetermined direction in which it can be moved by said vane lever;

a pawl biased towards said ratchets of said wheel means for retaining it in a position to which it has been pivoted by said vane lever;

means for disengaging said pawl from said ratchets;

and

means responsive to the position of said wheel means for indicating speed.

6. The speedometer described in claim 5 wherein:

said means for disengaging comprises a lever pivotally mounted on said housing with a portion at a position along a track on said means for holding a vehicle track, which is up-path from said end portion of said vane lever, and means for coupling said lever to said pawl to move said pawl away from said ratchets when a vehicle hits said lever.

7. The speedometer described in claim 5 including:

means for retaining said wheel means at a position spaced from said driving member, so that said wheel means is not moved until said vane lever is moved by at least a predetermined amount.

8. The speedometer described in claim 5 wherein:

said means for holding a vehicle track is banked to urge vehicles toward one side of a track held by said means for holding a track.

9. A speedometer for toy vehicles comprising:

a toy vehicle track for carrying toy vehicles;

an impulse vane;

means for pivotally mounting said vane to swing from a position over said track to positions spaced from the path of toy vehicles moving along said track;

means for biasing said impulse vane toward said position over said track, so that toy vehicles rapidly moving along said track can thrust said vane to one of said positions which are spaced from the path of toy vehicles moving along said track; and

means for indicating the furthest position to which said vane has been thrust from said position in the path of vehicles moving along said track.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,075,424 3/1937 Bull 73-186 2,355,694 8/1944 Ardett 73-228 2,793,528 5/1957 Cramcr 73-186 2,993,372 7/1961 Bleakney et al 73-167 RICHARD C. QUEISSER, Primary Examiner M. SMOLLAR, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

